O’Connell and Horgan injuries add to Munster Cup woes
O’Connell yesterday underwent an operation on the thumb that he fractured in Friday night’s victory over Ulster in the Celtic League semi-final.
It went successfully and the hand will be in a cast for the next five weeks, after which a scan will determine how soon he will be able to resume.
For now, though, the certainty is that he will miss Munster’s Heineken Cup games over the next two week-ends along with the Celtic League final against Neath on February 1.
Furthermore, his prospects of making the Irish team against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 16 and Italy in Rome six days later are far from bright.
“Paul’s injury is a terrible blow for us and for Paul himself,” said Gaffney.
“He has been outstanding over the past few matches. I must admit that I didn’t really realise how good he was until I came to Munster. It’s a big blow for the player himself and, of course, for Munster as well.
He sustained the injury about five minutes into the second half, it resulted from a simple tackle on Jeremy Davidson and we hoped initially that it might be something that could be protected by strapping but the x-ray proved otherwise.
We will now have to decide between Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) and Mick O’Driscoll and are fortunate to have players of their calibre at our disposal.”
Galwey was preferred to O’Driscoll when it came to a place on the bench on Friday night and crowned his 20th minute involvement with Munster’s fifth and final try.
However, the likelihood is that O’Driscoll, doubtless fired up by his total omission from the Ulster match, will start this time, with Galwey held in reserve as an impact replacement in the second half.
This is the latest in a long run of injuries that have blighted Paul O’Connell’s career.
It will be recalled how concussion cut short his international career just after he had scored a try on his debut against Wales last season and having come back into the Irish side on the tour of New Zealand in June, he returned home with a back injury that kept him out of action up to a month ago.
O’Connell had a storming first hour against Ulster, frequently popping up in open field situations and utilising his physique and footballing acumen to open up many holes in the visitors defensive mechanism as well as performing his primary functions up front with customary efficiency.
O’Connell and Horgan have to be two of the unluckiest players in the game. Horgan looked to be back to his best until a typical barnstorming run down the left flank on Friday saw him pull up in obvious distress.
The hamstring had gone again and while Mossy Lawler has emerged impressively on the scene this season, he is essentially a centre and lacks the pace and finishing strength of Horgan.
“He will have a scan today to discover just what the problem is but I doubt if Hoggy will be back in time for the Gloucester match”, Gaffney accepted.
Reserve prop Simon Kerr is likely to be out for another three weeks. His place on the Munster bench on Friday night was taken by Martin Cahill, who was subsequently withdrawn from the Buccaneers team in Saturday’s AIB League tie against ULBohemians as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, Neath joined Munster in the Celtic League decider with a clearcut 32-10 win over struggling Cardiff at The Gnoll on Saturday evening.
Cardiff, who were 17-0 behind at half time, looked to be making a match of it until an old friend of Munster, Lee Jarvis, went over for a Neath try which he converted himself to kill the game off.
Jarvis has previously played against Munster for Cardiff and Neath, frequently using his powerful right boot to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
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